In Defense of Klout Measurement for Social Media Influence

My social media consulting clients always ask me as to who they should be trying to “influence” on social websites, and I always have to remind them that any social media user could potentially be an “influencer.” That being said, some people or businesses use social networking sites more than others, some have more reach than others, and some are considered to have thought leadership in their industries or professions more than others. So, although an exact measurement of social media influence is impossible because it will be different based on 1) the context of what exactly you’re trying to influence as well as 2) a big question as to how many people will actually act upon the recommendation of an “influencer.”

I blogged earlier this year looking at two tools to measure social media influence: Klout and PeerIndex. Of course these are only two potential tools that a social marketer has at his or her disposal. In fact, there are many tools to measure social influence, but they mean nothing without a relevance filter for the particular product or industry. For instance, Ashton Kutcher could have a high Klout score, but I certainly wouldn’t consider him influential in the B2B business services market.

With that in mind, and a disclaimer that I have no professional relationship with Klout other than that I met their CEO Joe Fernandez at BlogWorld 2010 and he was a cool dude, I want to blog in defense of Klout as a measurement tool for social media influence by giving a very good example of why the score works as one practical metric. The example I use is something that I know a lot about: the social media industry.

Klout as One Measurement Tool of Social Influence

I have added Custom Social Media Influencer Analysis to my own social media consulting services because of demand from my clients. While I can’t divulge how I go about analyzing and determining social influence for any given company, brand, product, or industry, I can tell you that it involves looking at a number of different factors and a lot of “analog” analysis of users on the various social platforms and their conversations. One of the metrics that I look at, without doubt, is Klout. When I look at Klout, I initially look for “anchor” people that I am fairly confident are both influential in that industry as well as an active social media user, and from there look at a number of factors, including who they influence and who they are influenced by – excellent data which Klout provides. This introduces me to other profiles to analyze. From there I look at whether these people with high numbers are even relevant, and then I make a list to do detailed content searches on. There are a lot more factors that go into this list, but let’s look at an analysis of social media influencers just based on what the Klout scores reveal: (Twitter handles are followed by their present Klout score)

If I had to ask you who do you think is truly influential in social media, meaning that if they posted a blog article about a new tool that it would induce many to try it, would you have listed some of the people on this list? I believe you would. Now for my analysis:

1.) Klout Measurement is Primarily about Twitter Influence. I’m sure that I’m going to get a comment on this blog that Facebook at the present, and LinkedIn in the near future, are also analyzed by the Klout measurement tool. But just for the sheer fact that probably 99% of tweets are public where as Facebook and LinkedIn posts aren’t necessarily so, those who actively tweet on Twitter, especially those that have a large, relevant, and engaging following, yield huge influence in social media. That is why @TweetSmarter should be on this list, because they are endlessly tweeting out the greatest tips on Twitter from across the world with great frequency and have a huge reach on Twitter. FYI @TweetSmarter has about 240,000 followers, is listed on more than 13,000 lists, and has tweeted almost 40,000 times!

2.) The New Mass Media are More Important than Bloggers. I often refer to Mashable as the CNN of social media. They really are. Everything they say gets hundreds of ReTweets by a wide variety of people. Furthermore, their frequent introductions of new social tools and tips on a daily basis have a plethora of readers who will act upon what they say. That is true social influence, and that is why sites like Mashable as well as TechCrunch have higher Klout scores than the New New Media of bloggers and authors. The measurement tool for social influence is working. After all, if you were trying to introduce a new product to the social media world, would you rather get prime coverage on Mashable or a blogger’s site? I would pick Mashable in general, but for certain genres (like blogging) ProBlogger may make more sense. But remember, this is a list for general influence on the general topic of “social media.” This leads me to:

3.) Is the User Relevant to Your Product? I had a tough one with Huffington Post. Once again, similar to Mashable, Huffington Post is undoubtedly influential enough to be bought out by AOL, and thus deserve a very high Klout score. The question is, how influential are they in the scheme of social media? Huff covers social media along with a lot of other topics, so it is not their primary focus. But, you know what, Mashable is covering a lot of different topics as well. This is why a relevance filter needs to be added to any Klout score. If there was any user on this list that I have my doubts about vis a vis yielding influence on the topic of social media, this would be the only one. I left it in there for the purpose of this paragraph as well as to get your feedback!

4.) Influential Social Media Bloggers are Social Influencers. The remaining people on the list are definitely top notch influencers in the realm of social media. Is Problogger influential on LinkedIn or Guy Kawasaki influential in the realm of Social Media for Non Profits? Maybe not as much as others with lower Klout scores. And that is the point I am trying to make and why I wouldn’t add them to lists on those topics (unless you tell me otherwise!). That being said, when any of these individuals write a book or come to town, they will have a big audience paying $$$ to see them and potentially acting upon their advice.

In my mind, and with the above reasoning, the Klout score measurement makes perfect sense as a tool. Now, if we were going to look at people who have scores in the 60s and 70s there may be more debate, but I hope that you’ll agree in this example that Klout is doing a pretty good job as one tool to measure social influence. While I don’t question the above scores, what you do with these scores to embark on a certain action for your business is a completely separate subject for debate.

So, do you still not believe in Klout as a measurement tool for influence? A fan of Klout? What do you think about the topic of social influence? The mic is yours!

The Founder and Editor-In-Chief of Maximize Social Business, Neal Schaffer is a leader in helping businesses and professionals strategically maximize their use of social media. Neal is the author of three social media books, including the recently published definitive social media strategy book Maximize Your Social. Forbes lists him as a Top 35 Social Media Power Influencer and AdAge lists his blog, Maximize Social Business (formerly known as Windmill Networking), as a top 100 global marketing blog. Neal provides social media strategy consulting and coaching, having worked with Fortune 500 companies and a Grammy-award winning musician. He has presented worldwide on social media at more than 150 events and also teaches social media marketing at Rutgers University. +Neal Schaffer

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About Neal Schaffer

The Founder and Editor-In-Chief of Maximize Social Business, Neal Schaffer is a leader in helping businesses and professionals strategically maximize their use of social media. Neal is the author of three social media books, including the recently published definitive social media strategy book Maximize Your Social. Forbes lists him as a Top 35 Social Media Power Influencer and AdAge lists his blog, Maximize Social Business (formerly known as Windmill Networking), as a top 100 global marketing blog. Neal provides social media strategy consulting and coaching, having worked with Fortune 500 companies and a Grammy-award winning musician. He has presented worldwide on social media at more than 150 events and also teaches social media marketing at Rutgers University. +Neal Schaffer

Comments

Thank you for this article. I am making a serious effort aimed at getting my various projects more attention via social media. I have explored facebook, twitter, blogger, and linkedin. What I am attempting to do is identify what i believe you call ‘influencers.’ Since I am a start up and realistically speaking have minimum influence my question involves how one 1) developing Klout and 2) getting those with influence interested in what I am up to. I’d like to read your comments and opinions on this. Bill Gerardino.

The question you ask is not an easy answer and requires a number of things. Klout measures your activity on Twitter, so you’d better get busy tweeting! Furthermore, making relationships with Influencers is the same as using Publicists to get in touch with the media or creating human relationships. There are many ways to do this.

Sorry I can’t give you more specific advice, but you can imagine that the answer to this question will have a number of variables attached to it.

If you need some special help, contact me at [email protected] and I’d be more than happy to send you a proposal.

Thanks for the comment Jeff. Yes, as I blogged about earlier, Peer Index and Klout are two different beasts. This blog post was not really about comparing the two as much as it was an attempt to take a rational look at Klout scoring. I could have used Peer Index. Either way, I think my point would have been the same.